THE County of
Bennington comprises seventeen townships, and is divided into two shires, each
shire constituting a Probate Dis­trict. The towns in the North or Manchester
Shire are Arlington, Dorset, Landgrove, Manchester, Peru, Rupert, Sandgate,
Sunderland and Winhall — those in the South Shire are Bennington, Glastenbury,
Pownal, Readsborough, Searsburgh, Shaftsbury, Stamford and Woodford.

When the
government of New York first claimed to exercise jurisdiction over the ter­ritory
of Vermont, the lands in the present County of Bennington were claimed as part
of the County of Albany. In 1772 that County was divided by Act of the New York
Assembly and the County of Charlotte constituted, which embraced nearly the whole
of of the present North Shire, being bounded southerly by the South line of the
New York grant of Princetown, extended easterly across the mountain and North
to Canada. The County Seat of Charlotte County was established at
Skenesborough, now Whitehall.

Under the
government of Vermont, which went into operation in March 1778 the State was
divided into two Counties by the ridge of the Green Mountains, the Western part
constituting the County of Bennington, and the County was divided into two
Shires, the Southern embracing the whole of the present County being
denominated the Bennington Shire.

By act of
Assembly passed Feb. 13, 1781, the County of Rutland was formed out of that of
Bennington the South line of the new County being identical with its present
Southern boundary. At the same session an act was passed declaring the towns of
Ben­nington and Manchester to be "half shires for holding courts in the
County of Bennington, provided the town of Bennington complete a goal by the
first day of June next and a Court House by the first of October next,"
the courts to be held alternately in the two shires and each constituting a
separate Probate District. Court Houses and Jails were sub­sequently built in
each of the Shire towns, and the legislative arrangement then made has
continued to the present time. The Coun­ty Court sits at Bennington on the
first Tues­day in December and at Manchester on the First Tuesday of June in
each year. The Supreme Court sits at Bennington every even year and at
Manchester every odd year at each on the Second Tuesday after the Fourth
Tuesday in January.

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ARLINGTON.

BY
REV. F. A. WADLEIGH.

ARLINGTON, lying
not far from the middle of Bennington County, is so rough and unev­en that but
a small portion of the town is fitted for arable purposes. A narrow strip of
fertile land lies on the banks of the Bat­tenkill,* which passes through the
town by a south-westerly and westerly course. There is a somewhat wider strip
on the east, between the Green Mountains and what may be called the Equinox
range.

The Red Mountain,
and the West Moun­tain, occupy by far the greater part of the town. These
present a rugged barrier, almost impassable except by a gap, through which the
river passes, apparently made by the rupture of the rocky strata, caused by the
primitive upheaval of the mountains. The passage made the mountains slope more
gent­ly, and the valley widens until, near the line of the State of New York,
it gets beyond the mountain system altogether.

The broken
fragments of slate and lime­stone, which lie on all sides of these two
mountains, have given origin to many sink­holes or natural wells; the
greater part of which have now become choked, but several remain open.

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* Battenkill is
said to be a Dutch work signify­ing fertilizing stream.